“The pink skin’s skirt has a cute pattern, but the red one feels the best.”
Yan Chengfeng leaned lazily against his gaming chair and said, “Aside from the green one being too abstract, the rest all look pretty good. It’s kinda hard to choose. Can you guys help me pick one?”
On the computer screen, the homepage of the in-game store was displayed, with “Spring Special: 30% Off for the First Week” scrolling prominently in the center.
Yan Chengfeng used his mouse to switch between skin colors. On the left side of the screen, the skirt of a hamster loli character changed from red to green, yellow, purple, and pink accordingly.
The live chat comments flooded the screen.
[OMG, streaming during the daytime? The first active pro to do so. Are you in the US time zone?]
[Definitely pick red! Feel > anything else. Good-looking skins don’t help you climb ranks, heehee~]
[Sweetie, we recommend choosing the dazzling black 🌹🌹]
[These flashy skins have been getting uglier and pricier over the past two years. In the end, you’ll realize the default skin is still the best…]
At 9:30 in the morning, Yan Chengfeng decided to start streaming.
As a professional esports player, most of his daily schedule followed a night owl routine, so his streams typically took place at night or in the early hours.
But Yan Chengfeng’s popularity was so immense that even when he chose such an unusual time to go live, the number of viewers in his stream skyrocketed to an astonishing figure.
Yan Chengfeng paid no attention to the discussion in the chat. As he continued switching between skins, his gaze casually shifted to the bottom-right corner of his monitor to glance at the time.
9:40.
He paused for a moment, then his eyes moved to his phone on the desk. The screen was dark, indicating that no new messages had come through.
Yan Chengfeng lifted his head and refocused on his computer screen. “Oh, sorry. I forgot I have 100,000 points on this super account.”
He paused thoughtfully before slowly saying, “So I guess I don’t really have to pick. Why don’t I just buy all the colors?”
He said this with a calm expression, but his words were infuriating. The chat froze for a second before erupting in chaos.
[Ahhhh, I’m so mad! I’m so mad! I’m so mad!]
[@ForestOfTheFullMoonOfficial, control your pro player. Flaunting super account privileges without considering the audience’s feelings. Terrible experience. Recommend banning this account 😊👋]
[I heard KYM picked up a new ADC from a foreign server. Will they debut in the spring split?]
“Forest of The Full Moon” was a MOBA game launched seven years ago by a European game developer. Its detailed production and exquisite art style, combined with a uniquely thrilling competitive experience, made it an instant global sensation upon release. Over the years, its leagues and international tournaments have also garnered significant attention.
Whenever the World Championship season rolled around, bizarre combinations of letters or numbers would suddenly trend on Weibo—usually the IDs of Forest of The Full Moon players from different teams.
Yan Chengfeng, 21 years old, male alpha, was the support player for KYM.
His professional ID, KYM-Chef, translated to “cook” in Chinese. Yet, this abstract ID stayed on Weibo’s trending list for nearly the entire winter last year.
Three years ago, he began making a name for himself in the professional league. His performance was consistently outstanding—he had a deep hero pool, played lanes with finesse, initiated fights decisively, and his gameplay was exceptionally entertaining to watch. He turned the seemingly dull support role into something dynamic, full of unexpected strategies and creativity.
Last year, KYM reached the World Championship semifinals, an unprecedented achievement for a Chinese team. Throughout the group stage, countless comeback victories in adverse situations were thanks to Yan Chengfeng’s critical team-fight initiations.
“A proud, handsome, and promising young alpha player with limitless potential.” That’s how the public described Yan Chengfeng.
Indeed, despite his young age, Yan Chengfeng was already miles ahead of his peers in terms of achievements.
Unfortunately, his personality was too arrogant and blunt. In plain terms, he had a sharp tongue and a foul mouth, with no filter. As a result, this led to numerous minor and major controversies.
Yet, his remarks were full of unexpected punchlines. Many of the esports community’s iconic memes originated from him. Coupled with his good looks and stellar performance, this resulted in an unusually large number of both fans and haters.
In short, Yan Chengfeng had a subtle but highly debated strange aura.
After purchasing all the newly released hero skins, Yan Chengfeng glanced at the time.
10:03.
At that moment, his phone screen lit up. He looked down and saw a message from Li Feng, the team manager. It was a simple two-word message: “He’s arrived.”
Immediately after, another message popped up: “Please, I beg you, manage your emotions.”
Yan Chengfeng’s fingers trembled slightly.
A moment later, he exhaled and raised his eyes, exiting the game.
“Something came up,” Yan Chengfeng told his viewers. “I’m ending the stream for today.”
Amid a flood of comments like “???”, “But you’ve only been live for thirty minutes?”, and “So you went live just to show us Barbie’s dream closet, huh?”, Yan Chengfeng didn’t hesitate—he directly cut the stream.
The intense reaction from the chat was understandable.
After all, Yan Chengfeng had only streamed for around thirty minutes that morning, spending the entire time picking colorful little skirts and hadn’t even tested any of them in a ranked match before logging off.
No one noticed that, throughout the entire stream, Yan Chengfeng had been distracted, despite constantly talking, and kept glancing at the clock at the bottom of his monitor unconsciously.
He was waiting for something.
Choosing to stream at that particular time was merely a way for him to steady his emotions—a form of self-deception.
He desperately needed to talk to someone, to keep his mouth and brain occupied, so he wouldn’t have time to dwell on unnecessary thoughts. Only then could he suppress the turbulent waves surging within him.
As he left the training room, Yan Chengfeng paused briefly. He stood in front of the transparent glass door and gave himself one last look-over.
Ordinarily, he wasn’t the type to obsess over his appearance. But in this moment, he needed to ensure that he looked high-spirited and confident.
He had to make sure he looked like he was doing better than that person.
At this hour, most of his teammates were still asleep. After taking just a few steps outside the training room, Yan Chengfeng immediately spotted the two figures standing at the base entrance.
The club manager, Li Feng, was a beta male with a chubby body and always wore the same pale blue shirt that looked perpetually grimy.
Almost at the same instant, Yan Chengfeng recognized the familiar face beside him.
A simple hoodie, a slender build, and those beautiful yet aloof eyes that seemed devoid of warmth.
Just a single glance at that face from a distance was enough to make Yan Chengfeng feel like all the blood in his body froze in an instant.
That familiar wave of anger and hatred surged back into his chest after so many years. His breathing became heavier, and his eyes burned uncontrollably.
He heard Li Feng shout loudly to him, “Xiao Yan1“Xiao” means “little” and is often used in an affectionate way, over here, over here!”
Yan Chengfeng stared fixedly at the person beside Li Feng, but that person seemed completely oblivious to his intense emotions. Standing quietly next to his suitcase, he lowered his gaze and stared at a potted spider plant on the table.
“This is Zhen Ning from the North American server.”
Li Feng wiped the sweat off his forehead, nervously introducing the person next to him. “Xiao Yan, you two can talk and get to know each other. In the future—”
Yan Chengfeng suddenly laughed.
It wasn’t because of anything in particular—he just found Li Feng’s introduction absurd. Three years ago, he and Zhen Ning had stood side by side in this very spot countless times.
The lobby’s decor hadn’t changed at all since then. The only difference was that back then, the front desk didn’t have this spider plant, and the water dispenser nearby didn’t have an automatic function.
At that time, the two of them, along with the other youth trainees, had trained in a cramped little room. When they were too exhausted from playing, they would sneak over to this spot to watch the main team practice for their next match.
They felt envious, but they also thought to themselves: if they could just endure a little longer, one day they’d be the ones sitting in that training room. It filled them with boundless hope for the future.
And back then, they were only seventeen or eighteen years old.
“No need for introductions,” Yan Chengfeng interrupted Li Feng, smiling brightly. “We’re old acquaintances.”
He stepped forward and extended his hand toward Zhen Ning.
“Long time no see,” Yan Chengfeng said.
His smile was dazzling, his eyes shining with brightness. With his handsome features, the unrestrained boldness of his grin made him seem extremely amicable.
His attitude immediately put Li Feng at ease.
Li Feng rubbed his hands together and echoed, “Oh, right, right. My memory is terrible. You two already know each other. Well, let’s… let’s just catch up, then.”
The two men’s eyes met midair.
Zhen Ning’s eyelashes fluttered slightly.
His expression remained as calm as ever, but he silently stared at Yan Chengfeng’s outstretched hand, as if measuring how much of the goodwill in this gesture was genuine and how much was fake.
Yan Chengfeng had a feeling that Zhen Ning didn’t want to shake hands with him. But perhaps because Li Feng was standing there, Zhen Ning eventually extended his hand.
Yet just as their fingertips were about to touch, Yan Chengfeng abruptly withdrew his hand, casually waving it off as if nothing had happened.
With a smile, he said, “But on second thought, I don’t think we have much to catch up on, do we?”
Li Feng’s expression stiffened instantly. “Don’t….”
“Zhen Ning, after all these years, there’s something I’ve been really curious about—”
Yan Chengfeng looked Zhen Ning up and down, his smile remaining unchanged as he asked with malice and petty intent, “Was the feng shui in America not good enough?
“Or was it that the skies in California weren’t blue enough, the air not as fresh as imagined, or the expensive steaks too tough to chew?”
His breath was hot, his tone ambiguous, yet every word pierced the heart, malicious to the extreme.
Yan Chengfeng let out a sneer. He leaned close to Zhen Ning’s ear and softly asked, “Otherwise, how could you look like this—like you’re not even fully alive?”
Author’s note (Important to read):
Yan Chengfeng is an alpha, and Zhen Ning is an omega—don’t get the roles reversed!
The story’s game is an original MOBA-style PC game. You can reference mechanics like LoL and Honor of Kings, but the setting is fictional. I’ll try to write the match descriptions as simply and understandably as possible. If you’re particular about the accuracy of game mechanics, this may not be for you~
Warnings: The top has “straight man cancer”2Straight man cancer is a slang term used in Chinese to describe a type of overly macho or conservative man who holds outdated views about gender roles. and is very immature—stubborn on the outside but soft-hearted on the inside, with a low moral bottom line. He holds a grudge over the departure of the bottom, so when they reunite, he will act childishly and rudely. If this bothers you, don’t read! 🙏
The protagonist is not a perfect character, and this isn’t just a simple fluffy story. If you can’t handle the ups and downs or some angst, please proceed with caution～
Translator’s note:
Hi everyone, and welcome! 🌟
If you’re not familiar with some gaming terms, don’t worry! The author explains most of them within the story or keeps things simple enough that you won’t need a background in gaming to follow along. If you’re ever unsure about something, you can ask in the comments.
I hope you’ll enjoy this story as much as I have! Thank you for reading, and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below 💖
Thanks for the translation ✨✨